October 11, 2008

Here is my first quine. It’s written in AppleScript, because I wasn’t able to find, another AppleScript quine.

When run quine.applescript will make Script Editor create a new window containing the source code. It’s particularly meta if you use Script Editor (the default application) to run the quine, because it’s not just printing itself, it’s writing itself in the IDE!

EDITED TO ADD: Here’s the quine’s source, but you really should download it to run it, because wordpress has a habit of subtly mucking with copied code…

set d to "on string_from_ASCII_numbers(x)
set s to ASCII character of item 1 of x
repeat with i from 2 to number of items in x
set s to s & (ASCII character of item i of x)
end repeat
end string_from_ASCII_numbers
set set_d_to to {115, 101, 116, 32, 100, 32, 116, 111, 32}
set scriptEditor to {83, 99, 114, 105, 112, 116, 32, 69, 100, 105, 116, 111, 114}
set quine to string_from_ASCII_numbers(set_d_to) & quote & d & quote & return & d
tell application string_from_ASCII_numbers(scriptEditor) to make new document with properties {contents:quine}"
on string_from_ASCII_numbers(x)
set s to ASCII character of item 1 of x
repeat with i from 2 to number of items in x
set s to s & (ASCII character of item i of x)
end repeat
end string_from_ASCII_numbers
set set_d_to to {115, 101, 116, 32, 100, 32, 116, 111, 32}
set scriptEditor to {83, 99, 114, 105, 112, 116, 32, 69, 100, 105, 116, 111, 114}
set quine to string_from_ASCII_numbers(set_d_to) & quote & d & quote & return & d
tell application string_from_ASCII_numbers(scriptEditor) to make new document with properties {contents:quine}